The present invention generally relates to aircraft system control and indication methods and, more particularly, to a display and control method for the management of aircraft energy systems. In general, aircraft energy systems include fuel, propulsion (engines and auxiliary power unit (APU)), electrical, hydraulic, and bleed air systems.
Flight crews on current commercial and military airplanes obtain information on the state of their main airplane power systems, which includes the fuel, propulsion, electrical, hydraulic, and bleed air systems, through various displays and other information sources including control panel switch positions and lights, alert messages from a centralized crew alerting system display, system synoptic displays, and checklists. The engines combust fuel to convert chemical energy to thrust, enabling flight. But the engines also drive accessory components which create electric, hydraulic, and bleed air energy. These downstream energy sources power the various airplane systems, for example, navigational and interior lighting, flight controls, and cabin environmental control. When an energy source fails, for example, by a main engine failure or an APU failure, or when a component in a downstream energy system fails, for example, by an electrical generator failure or a hydraulic or bleed air pump failure, redundancy is lost and capability may be lost. Flight crews must have a clear understanding of the current state of their power systems to support procedures and support critical mission-level decisions.
The various displays and other information sources for the state of the main airplane power systems, including control panel switch positions and lights, alert message display, system synoptic displays, and checklists, are typically dispersed throughout the cockpit and are not integrated. For example, FIGS. 1A and 1B show overhead panel 100, which is currently used in one model of a commercial airliner. As seen in FIGS. 1A and 1B, certain indications and controls for the engines are located in area 102, while certain indications and controls for fuel are located at area 104. FIGS. 1A and 1B also show that certain indications and controls for the APU, which may typically be a gas turbine engine located in the tail of the aircraft, are located in area 106 along with indications and controls for the electrical system. It is also seen in FIGS. 1A and 1B that certain indications and controls for the hydraulic system are located at area 108, and certain indications and controls for pneumatic systems, including pressurization, bleed air, and air conditioning, are located at area 110.
The status of each system is generally indicated at the detailed component level, such as a hydraulic pump or electrical generator. For example, FIG. 2 shows a display of hydraulic system synoptic 200, which is currently used in one model of a commercial airliner. As seen in FIG. 2, information is provided by system synoptic 200 at the detailed component level, where, for example, pressure indicators 202 indicate pressure available in hydraulic lines 204 produced by primary pumps 205, and hydraulic lines 204 are configured to illustrate which system functions 206, such as left and right thrust reversers 207 and 209, and flaps 211, have available pressure supplied by hydraulic lines 204. Even though the power systems are heavily interdependent, for example, the bleed air system powers the hydraulic pumps, the electrical system powers the engine fuel pumps, and so forth, each system is separately displayed. For example, FIG. 2 shows system synoptic 200 for the hydraulic system only; there are separate system synoptics for the electric and bleed air systems. The crew must integrate all the information sources to form an accurate mental model of the state of the airplane""s main power systems, and more importantly, of the airplane""s remaining capabilities. The task of integrating the diverse sources of detailed information to assess the state of the main airplane power systems and the airplane""s remaining capabilities can be difficult using current methods, and may lead to crew errors. The combination of detailed and separate system indications and the integration and assessment task require flight crews to undergo extensive training, at great cost to airlines. Also, substantial amounts of display and panel space are dedicated to the separate, diverse, and detailed indications and controls. Display and panel space is expensive, and must be used efficiently because the power system indications must compete with other important flight deck functions for limited display space.
As system technology has evolved to current generation airplanes, the approach of displaying each system separately at the detailed component level using unintegrated indications, including control panel switch positions and lights, crew alert messages, system synoptic displays, and checklists, has become less desirable for a number of reasons. For one, increasing levels of automation have made it possible, in many cases, for systems to be reconfigured without flight crew involvement. The systems could automatically reroute around the failed component to maintain system functionality when it is possible. Also, increasing levels of system complexity and system integration complexity have made it more difficult for a human operator to quickly ascertain how even a single failure affects overall system function. Conclusions of human factors research have emphasized the importance of providing flight crew with information about both physical component status and system overall function. What is most critical is that the flight crew is able to ensure successful operation of the aircraft by knowing the status of system functions and by being able to restore system functions in the event of failure.
As can be seen, there is a need for a more concise and more integrated display method for providing flight crews with information about the power systems, including the fuel, propulsion, electrical, hydraulic, and bleed air systems, on their aircraft. There is also a need for a display and control method for aircraft energy systems management that removes the burden on the flight crew to reason through a collection of individual component failures to determine the implications of the failures on overall system operation. Moreover, there is a need for a display method for providing flight crews with integrated information about aircraft power systems and a control method for aircraft energy systems management that provides an approach to prioritizing failures.
The present invention provides a more concise and more integrated display and control method for providing flight crews with information about aircraft power systems, including the fuel, propulsion, electrical, hydraulic, and bleed air systems. The present invention also provides a display and control method for aircraft energy systems management that removes the burden on the flight crew to reason through a collection of individual component failures to determine the implications of the failures on overall system operation. Moreover, the present invention provides a display method for providing flight crews with integrated information and indications about aircraft power systems and a control method for aircraft energy systems management that provides an approach to prioritizing failures.
In one aspect of the present invention, an energy systems management method, provides a hierarchically arranged, interrelated set of synoptic displays that incorporate controls on the displays. These synoptic displays interface with the controllers of the energy systems to: receive information from and provide command inputs to the energy system; acquire human inputs through the synoptic displays by means of a computer user interface device; and control the energy system by processing the human inputs through the synoptic displays to provide command inputs to the energy system.
In another aspect of the present invention, an energy systems management method provides a hierarchically arranged, interrelated set of synoptic displays that provide indications to the flight crew about individual energy systems as well as overall systems status. One synoptic display of the set of synoptic displays is an overall energy synoptic, and the other synoptic displays of the set of synoptic displays are synoptics displaying the status and configuration of the individual corresponding energy systems. The energy systems management method also provides a means to receive information from and provide command inputs to the energy system; acquire human inputs through the synoptic displays by means of a computer user interface device; and control the energy system by processing the human inputs through the synoptic displays to provide command inputs to the energy system, as described above.
In even another aspect of the present invention, an energy systems management method provides a hierarchically arranged, interrelated set of synoptic displays that provide indications to the flight crew about individual energy systems as well as overall systems status. One synoptic display of the set of synoptic displays is an overall energy synoptic, and the other synoptic displays of the set of synoptic displays are synoptics displaying the status and configuration of the individual corresponding energy systems. The overall synoptic display and corresponding energy systems synoptic displays include bubbles representing energy systems, text boxes representing the supporting system functions that the energy system supports, and arrows representing energy source and functional dependency interrelationships, with the bubbles, the text boxes, and the arrows arranged hierarchically. Each energy system has a corresponding synoptic display selectable from the overall energy synoptic by selecting, via a computer user interface, the corresponding bubble representing the energy system. Selecting a text box provides detailed information regarding system consequences and/or limitations due to loss of that system and accumulates the same information into a consequential checklist for later phases of flight. The synoptic displays employ a graphical means, such as combinations of symbol shapes and color, for representing whether each energy system is enabled and whether each energy source and functional dependency interrelationship is enabled. The method also includes steps of acquiring human inputs through the synoptic displays, displaying boxed messages where selecting a boxed message provides an appropriate command input to an energy system for producing corrective action; and controlling the energy system by processing the human inputs through the synoptic displays to provide command inputs to the energy system.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description, and claims.